DIY: Glass Jug Lantern

Wash your beverage jug with warm, soapy water and dry it carefully. This prevents the paint job from looking splotchy later.

Starting at the bottom of the jug, wrap the entire piece in painter's tape. Overlap the edges of each layer carefully. If the jug has a handle, wrap it as well. Keep the wrapping as neat as possible.

Sketch a design onto the painter's tape with a china marker. Try a weeping cherry tree, animal silhouettes, fruit, stars, raindrops or polka dots.

Score along your china marker lines with a utility knife. The goal is to weaken the painter's tape without scratching the glass.

Score over your lines a second time. This pass should cut through the tape. Your glass will have a few minor scratches when you’re finished, but paint will cover them later.

Remove your sketched shapes from the jug. Paint the exposed glass with glass paint. Use white frosted paint, colored transparent paint, or colored frosted paint. Paint slowly with a sponge brush.

Allow the paint to dry overnight. Gently remove the rest of the painter's tape to reveal your homemade design.

Cut a piece of craft wire about 6 inches long. Wrap one end of the wire around the base of a battery pack on a string of battery-powered twinkle lights. The pack must be long and narrow, not bulky. Bend the last inch of the wire into a hook shape.

Feed the lights down into the jug, including the battery pack. Slip the hook down over the edge of the jug's mouth. When you wan to turn the lights on, pull up the battery pack by the hook.